I leapt eagerly into books. The characters’ lives were so much more interesting than the lonely heartbeat of my own.

But wasn't there some sort of rule that said parents had to be smarter than their kids? It didn't seem fair.

I stared at the enormous homes, the landscaping and flower beds immaculate. It was as if dollar bills, instead of leaves, hung from the trees.

They got everything money can buy, their bank accounts are fat, but they ain't happy. They ain't ever gonna be happy. You know why? They soul broke. And money can't fix that, no sir.

They have a baby grand piano, but no one in the family plays. They have shelves of books they've never read, and the tension between the couples was so thick it nearly choked us.

Light fell, and so did my confidence.

We sat and drank in silence. It was something I appreciated about Jesse. He didn't feel the need to fill every moment with talk or some sort of silly exchange.

We pushed to the edge of recklessness, yet I felt safe.

He wrapped his arms around me and planted a kiss straight on my lips, hard and long. It felt like I was watching the kiss instead of being inside of it.

And she didn't judge nobody. She loved everyone equal- accountants, queers, musicians, she welcomed us all, said we were all idiots just the same.

The only reason I'd lift my skirt is to pull a pistol and plug you in the head.

The deepest need of our darkness is to comprehend the light which shines in the midst of it.

He seemed not to know the uses of silence.

I wish I could tell you the road from here to where you're going is straight and without obstacles. That is not the truth. The journey to greatness is just not that way.

...You, you look -- bien -- exactly what you were, a high-ranking British officer, used to unwavering obedience and with the air of a Greek god, gazing down on us mere mortals.

Poets are the leaven in the lump of civilization.

The loss of liberty in general would soon follow the suppression of the liberty of the press; for it is an essential branch of liberty, so perhaps it is the best preservative of the whole.

There’s a time to be silent - to build up a reason to sing again.

The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us.

When a man becomes cultivated, he develops a new respect for who he is. This causes him to be ashamed of his past identification of himself and others according to things, i.e. property.

It is guaranteed to put all teeth on edge, including George Washington's, wherever they might be.